Last night’s blowout victory by the Chicago Cubs over the Reds evened up the series at 1-1. Cincinnati will look to bounce back in the series finale where the winner gets the series win.
Update: Today’s contest has been postponed. It will be made up as a part of a doubleheader on September 1st.
Starting Lineups
Chicago Cubs
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Cincinnati Reds
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| Nico Hoerner – 2B | Jonathan India – 2B |
| Dansby Swanson – SS | TJ Friedl – CF |
| Ian Happ – LF | Jake Fraley – LF |
| Cody Bellinger – CF | Tyler Stephenson – DH |
| Trey Mancini – 1B | Jason Vosler – 1B |
| Eric Hosmer – DH | Wil Myers – RF |
| Nick Madrigal – 3B | Spencer Steer – 3B |
| Miles Mastrobuoni – RF | Jose Barrero – SS |
| Tucker Barnhart – C | Curt Casali – C |
| Marcus Stroman – RHP | Hunter Greene – RHP |
Starting Pitchers
Stats from 2022
| Pitcher | IP | ERA | WHIP | BB | K |
| Marcus Stroman | 6.0 | 0.00 | 1.00 | 3 | 8 |
| Hunter Greene | 3.1 | 8.10 | 2.40 | 3 | 8 |
| Links: Hunter Greene’s Stats | Marcus Stroman’s Stats |
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Hunter Greene
Opening day didn’t go well for Hunter Greene. A cautious David Bell pulled him in the 4th inning with one out and 83 pitches. Greene will look to do better this time around.
An improved change up and a focus on throwing it more was the talk of spring training, and he showed it off at times. But on opening day Greene didn’t throw a single one. It was only the second time in his big league career that he didn’t throw a change up in a game.
Looking back at last season, Greene pitched better against lefties than righties. He had a solid walk rate against both, but his strikeout rate was much better against lefties than righties and they didn’t hit for as much power, either.
2022 Splits
| Split | PA | H | 2B | 3B | HR | BB% | K% | AVG | OBP | SLG |
| RHH | 257 | 55 | 10 | 0 | 13 | 8.2% | 26.5% | .239 | .311 | .452 |
| LHH | 274 | 49 | 11 | 0 | 11 | 9.9% | 35.0% | .205 | .299 | .389 |
Pitch Usage (in 2022)
| 4-Seam | Slider | Change | |
| Velo | 99.0 | 88.1 | 90.2 |
| Usage | 53.8% | 40.9% | 5.3% |
Marcus Stroman
Last season came to an end for Marcus Stroman in an 8-1 Cubs win over the Reds on October 2nd. He fired off 6.0 shutout innings with seven strikeouts against Cincinnati. After spending a month on the injured list in the first half, Stroman returned on July 9th and posted a 2.56 ERA in his remaining 16 starts of the season.
Lefties and righties both struggle to get on base against Stroman, but lefties do hit for a higher average and show a little more power to go along with it – or at least that was the case in 2022. Things were a bit more even in 2021 when it comes to the splits. Not shown below is that his home and road splits were very different. Away from Wrigley he posted a 2.06 ERA (5.18 in Chicago) and hitters managed just a .586 OPS against him (.750 in Chicago).
2022 Splits
| Split | PA | H | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | K | AVG | OBP | SLG |
| RHH | 284 | 51 | 12 | 0 | 7 | 21 | 53 | .210 | .278 | .339 |
| LHH | 285 | 69 | 13 | 1 | 9 | 15 | 66 | .258 | .296 | .414 |
Pitch Usage (in 2022)
| 4-Seam | 2-Seam | Cutter | Curve | Slider | Change | |
| Velo | 92.9 | 92.1 | 90.4 | 81.6 | 85.2 | 87.3 |
| Usage | 8% | 40% | 11% | 1% | 28% | 12% |
When and Where
- Game time: 12:35pm ET
- Where: Great American Ball Park
- Watch: Bally Sports Ohio, MLB.tv, MLB Network
- Listen: 700 WLW AM (Cincinnati area)
- Forecast: 74°, cloudy, 20% chance of rain
News and Notes
Roster Moves
This morning the Reds called up pitcher Kevin Herget, optioned Joel Kuhnel to Triple-A, and designated Bennett Sousa for assignment. Sousa had been in Triple-A with Louisville. Herget was as well, but had not pitched yet – he was tonight’s scheduled starting pitcher for the Bats. You can read more about the moves here.
TJ Friedl is the Reds “new spark plug”
The season has gotten out to a good start for outfielder TJ Friedl. Through five games he’s hitting .353/.389/.824 with a triple and two home runs. He’s been laying down bunts and hitting dingers, all while playing good defense in the outfield. Charlie Goldsmith of the Cincinnati Enquirer wrote about all of that today, and how Friedl’s turned things up a notch over the last year.
Standings
| Team | W | L | GB | Playoff Odds |
| Brewers | 4 | 1 | 0.0 | 69.4% |
| Reds | 3 | 2 | 1.0 | 2.3% |
| Pirates | 3 | 2 | 1.0 | 6.9% |
| Cardinals | 2 | 3 | 1.0 | 67.2% |
| Cubs | 2 | 3 | 2.0 | 11.7% |
| Playoff Odds via Fangraphs | ||||
The game today will be delayed by the incoming threat of rain.
No Benson at least….0-12 with 9 SO’s. Gee didn’t see that coming based on his Spring stats…
Yeah, really too bad. There was a lot of high hopes for this young man. He is still a very talented athlete. We don’t quite have to throw in the towel on him yet. Still just 12 AB’s. Maybe pressing too hard. Sit him down for a few days, and let him watch. Tell him to relax and not try to kill the ball in every AB.
Perhaps the best thing is to either get him a lot of BP with the hitting coach, or send him down to get his confidence and timing back in AAA.
He has the deer caught in the headlights look. I certainly wouldn’t give up on him yet, though I have no idea how he would go about relaxing.
Hoping for a pleasant distraction from work today! Here’s hoping Hunter Greene the pitcher, not hte thrower, shows up today!
Two miles east of downtown and it’s sunny and beautiful. Seems like the kind of day you’d start play ASAP and try to get as much of the game in as possible.
They say there’s at least a light rain going on right now. I guess that 20% chance turned into 100%. I’d rather start late rather than have a delay in the middle of the game when Greene is pitching.
Judging from the weather radar, looks like things are expected to clear up in about an hour.
Reds 1B Joey Votto (recovery from rotator-cuff and bicep surgery) will not return when eligible, in part because a rain-out and an off-day for Triple-A Louisville have prevented him from getting sufficient in-game repetitions in his rehab assignment, manager David Bell told reporters.
FROM MLBTR NEWSLETTER
We’ll get an update on the weather/game around 1:45pm
Surprised Barrero is in the lineup with possibly wet conditions.
Well, he’s playing shortstop and we’ve established that you can’t get hurt playing shortstop.
The wall is a long way away…but there is always foul territory!
Now if only Barrero started to hit….but it is still early. He has been playing very good shortstop…as a fielder.
Today’s contest has been postponed.
They get a rest day before facing Philadelphia. That’s not a bad thing.
Agreed, particularly for the bullpen.
A bit of good news. Braves sweep the Cardinals.
Starting the first road trip of the season with a winning record! And, if Pittsburg and Milwaukee both lose their games today, the Reds would be tied for 1st Place in the NL Central Division!
Actually, I’m glad that Greene nor Barrero had to play in wet conditions!
Postponed all the way to September 1st? That’s a lifetime away at this point.
Unfortunately with the schedule now being different that’s the first time they play them at home.
Got to wonder how much (how little) the Reds really wanted to play today.
So I would guess then that Hunter Greene will be pushed back, and start tomorrow night in Philadelphia, weather permitting. Then Lodolo, Ashcraft and…..who knows if it will be Cessa or Overton?
Hope Hunter can bring his “A” game tomorrow.
See you tomorrow then, later time, same channel….
Well, phooey! Both the Pie-Rats and the Bernies won their games this afternoon! third palce it is! For now!
Pirates are better
They have some talent and might surprise some people
I dont seen any NL central teams winning 90+ or even possibly losing 92+
Which is frustrating if we had more pitching
I was giving to give you a dignified breakdown…..it is not worth my time
Pirates and the Cubs are both better this year and the Cardinals are well the Cardinals.Could be between us and the Brewers for last place but if we can get some position players to claim a starting job going forward our future looks bright.Hope we extend India and TySteve just to show hey we are serious but we will see.Should have money to spend next year but again we will see.